Department of Pinball

Department of Pinball A page for pinball tournaments in the DMV.

Registration is OPEN for PinBrawlers vol1, a pinball tournament!PinBrawlers vol 1: It BeginsA Department of Pinball even...
06/18/2026

Registration is OPEN for PinBrawlers vol1, a pinball tournament!

PinBrawlers vol 1: It Begins
A Department of Pinball event at Brian B's house / PinBawlers HQ in West Friendship MD.

Brian has agreed to let us back into his place after the 2025 MD States event!

Qualifying: 5 double rounds (old game & new game) in 4 player groups 7/5/3/1 points.
Top 16 make PAPA style finals, 3 games per round.
Limited to 40 players. Prior registration is required.
Doors at 11am, tournament starts at noon.
Entry fee of $20 cash at the door, or prepaid through PayPal.
No coin drop.
Address will be emailed to registrants.
Parking is limited. Some spots will be assigned to carpools of 4+ people.
A shuttle will be provided from the nearby shopping center.
Questions may be directed to [email protected].

Register here in Matchplay:
https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/255122

PinBrawlers Pinball Tournament: A Department of Pinball Event!When: Saturday July 18th at 12 noon.Where: Brian B's House...
06/16/2026

PinBrawlers Pinball Tournament: A Department of Pinball Event!
When: Saturday July 18th at 12 noon.
Where: Brian B's House in West Friendship, Maryland
Entry fee: $20 all-in, no coin drop, cash at the door.

Approximately 40 pins in the main event from classics to a ton of moderns. This is the location where we held the 2025 Maryland State Championship.

Qualifying: 5 double rounds (old game & new game) in 4 player groups 7/5/3/1 points.
Top 16 make PAPA style finals, 3 games per round.
Limited to 40 players. Prior registration is required.

Registration opens Thurs June 18th at 9am on MatchPlay:
https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/255122

On Friday we held the June iteration of RoboCop Vs The Walking Dead: Who Is Deadliest?, a four strike pinball tournament...
06/13/2026

On Friday we held the June iteration of RoboCop Vs The Walking Dead: Who Is Deadliest?, a four strike pinball tournament with side event!

Wow did you folks come with the food this time! Huge thanks to everyone that brought food to share, including Jeff Helgeson, Cassandra Allen, Barry Schwartz, and Roy Michael! I hope I haven't forgotten anyone there. That was some great food! Thank you!

Fifteen players jumped into the side event, "Thank You Shannon For Running The Side Event", putting up their best scores on 5 modern Sterns: Led Zeppelin, Jurassic Park, Avengers Infinity Quest, Godzilla, and Metallica Remastered. The final game of the side event was chosen to be Avengers Infinity Quest. The final four winners are;
In 4th place, John Heinz!
In 3rd place, Nathan Fairbanks!
In 2nd place, Doru Zuba!
And in 1st place, winning the side event with her name on it, Shannon Keys!

Over in the main event, F14 Tomcat made itself at home in the lineup, and a bunch of good games were put up.

Winners of the main event;
Tied for 3rd place, Garret Maury and Francis Parks!
In 2nd place, Justin Bath
And in 1st place, Winner and Champion of the Night, Shawn Hillman!

Congratulations winners!

A huge THANK YOU to Matthew Mister and Shannon Keys for TD'ing the events!

Thank you to Celina Malcolm for hosting us and supplying coffee!

Thank you most of all to everyone that showed up to play! Shout out to our friend Jennifer Richardson for showing up all the way from NJ! And welcome to our two newest players, Cameron Evers and Brett Bennett!

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Registration is OPEN for this Friday 6/12! Register yourself thru MatchPlay here: https://app.matchplay.events/tournamen...
06/08/2026

Registration is OPEN for this Friday 6/12!

Register yourself thru MatchPlay here:
https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/244814

RoboCop Vs The Walking Dead: Who Is Deadliest?
Two of the most brutal machines ever made go head-to-head in Friday night's ultimate pinball tournament and party. Dead or alive, you are coming with us.

4 strike pinball tournament played in groups of 4.
Limited to 32 players. Prior registration is required.
Doors at 7:30 pm, tournament starts at 8pm.
Entry fee of $10 cash at the door, or prepaid through PayPal. No coin drop.
Questions may be directed to [email protected]

We held the Mega MatchPlay 200 this weekend, and wow it was everything I hoped for!Thirty two friendly and attractive pi...
05/25/2026

We held the Mega MatchPlay 200 this weekend, and wow it was everything I hoped for!

Thirty two friendly and attractive pinball players showed up in Wheaton MD for two days of pinball mayhem!

Three brand new players to the Department of Pinball joined us this weekend. Welcome to Paul Gussack, Chris Anderson, and Chris Allulis!

Sixteen games of qualifying on Saturday. PAPA style finals on Sunday, plus a separate 3-strike event. That’s a lot of pinball!

There was SO much food that you fine folks brought to share that I had to give up on listing people individually. We had pulled bbq chicken, homemade Mac n cheese, a Mediterranean pasta salad, tons of vegetables, chips, dips, bean salads and hummus, kale salad, cookies, crackers, more vegetable trays, big cheese and salami boards, more chips and salsa… I just fell into a food coma.

There was one food gift that blew my mind; our good friend and player Kim Reed sent along a homemade Rum Cake… and she wasn’t even coming to the event! Thank you Kim!

We were very well fed. 😊

By the time we got to the final game of the Finals, everything was still up for grabs. The score was 4-4-4-2. Anyone could win. And the final game was Godzilla. Perfect!

The top 8 players got paid. After all tiebreaks were played they are;

In 8th place, Francis Parks!
In 7th place, Chris Allulis!
In 6th place, Sean Smiley!
In 5th place, FL Ettlin!
In 4th place, Garrett Maury!
In 3rd place, Doru Zuba!
In 2nd place, Justin Bath!
And in 1st place, Winner and Champion of the Inaugural Mega MatchPlay 200, Matthew Mister!!

Matt wins the trophy beer mug as well! I’m so jealous! 😎

In the Sunday Post-Mega Three Strike, everyone that wasn’t in the Top 8 of the main event had one more chance at glory. And that glory was grabbed by our friend Dave Blouch (hard K) who won his first IFPA event ever today!

The top 3 players in the 3-strike got paid;
In 3rd place, Nathan Fairbanks!
In 2nd place, Dave Snyder!
And in 1st place, winning his first tournament, Dave Blouch!

Thank you to Paul Gussack for bringing us his Taxi machine to play for the weekend! Everyone enjoyed playing Taxi.

Thank you to Matt Mister and Shannon Keys for Tournament Directing the event with me. I could not do this without you two!

Thank you to Celina Malcolm for hosting us and handling the money besides!

Thank you to our Shaman Erika Sites who keeps our spirits up and leaves joy in her wake!

Biggest thanks of all go to ALL of you who continue to show up at our place to play tournament pinball! We have a fun and supportive scene happening, and I want to keep the party going. Thank you!

Our next event is on Friday June 12th, a four strike event called “RoboCop Vs The Walking Dead: Who Is Deadliest?”

Send an email to [email protected] to get yourself on our mailing list where you will be notified when a new event opens up.

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Taxi in the house for the Mega MatchPlay 200 this weekend! Huge thanks to Paul Gussack for loaning it to us and dropping...
05/19/2026

Taxi in the house for the Mega MatchPlay 200 this weekend! Huge thanks to Paul Gussack for loaning it to us and dropping it off. It’s playing great!

Mega MatchPlay 200 is full with a short waitlist! You can add yourself here if you feel lucky: https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/244711

On Friday May 8th we held the latest iteration of RoboCop Vs The Walking Dead: Who Is Deadliest? RoboCop has been runnin...
05/16/2026

On Friday May 8th we held the latest iteration of RoboCop Vs The Walking Dead: Who Is Deadliest?

RoboCop has been running away with it, but got pulled early for an intermittent right flipper, and so Walking Dead gets the W by default. And it’s not that it’s NOT deadly, it is. It’s just RoboCop is deadliest. So deadly. Dead or dead your game is dying right here.

We had our popular side event again, The Sternamint Side Ternamint! Play 5 Sterns for high score, unlimited attempts. After 4 hours, the top 4 play a one game playoff! Super fun!

The side event final game was Deadpool, chosen by Nick.
In 4th place, Jeff Helgeson!
In 3rd place, Sean Smiley!
In 2nd place, Paul Halliday!
And in 1st place, Winner of the side event, Nicholas Newln!

Over in the main event, the games were as brutal as we have come to expect. And after 14 rounds, one young man rose to the top by winning the whole thing with just one strike! Wow, nice dude!

In the main event;
In 4th place, Doru Zuba!
In 3rd place, Matthew Mister!
In 2nd place, Justin Bath !
And in 1st place, Winner and Champion of the Night, Garrett Maury!

Congratulations to all of our winners! Nicely done.

Thank you to Matt Mister for TD’ing the event! And you did it while earning 3rd place. Sweet!

Thank you to my beautiful wife Celina Malcolm for hosting our shenanigans!

OMG! Thank you to Jeff Helgeson for bringing us his homemade chili!

Thank you to Kim Reed for bringing us all her delicious homemade Rum Cake! Holy cow that was good!

And a HUGE thank you to everyone that came out to play and be a member of this pinball community. You f**kin’ rock!

Our next event is coming up fast! The Mega MatchPlay 200 is happening May 23 & 24. Register yourself right here:

https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/244711

There is also a 3-strike event on Sunday May 24th that anyone can join and play! Register for that one right here:

https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/244713

If you have any questions, or to get on our mailing list and be notified as soon as new events open up, send an email to [email protected].

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**Also pictured, the garage about to be closed up for the night, and 2 dudes that tied for 7th place. Pffft. Good looking guys though!

Registration is OPEN for this Friday May 8th! Register here in MatchPlay: https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/24481...
05/04/2026

Registration is OPEN for this Friday May 8th!
Register here in MatchPlay: https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/244813

RoboCop Vs The Walking Dead: Who Is Deadliest?
Two of the most brutal machines ever made go head-to-head in Friday night's ultimate pinball tournament and party. Dead or alive, you are coming with us.

4 strike pinball tournament played in groups of 4.
Limited to 32 players. Prior registration is required.
Doors at 7:30 pm, tournament starts at 8pm.
Entry fee of $10 cash at the door, or prepaid through PayPal. No coin drop.
Questions may be directed to [email protected].

We are just about a month away from the Mega MatchPlay 200, and the trophy has arrived! Check this out, a functional tro...
04/24/2026

We are just about a month away from the Mega MatchPlay 200, and the trophy has arrived!

Check this out, a functional trophy mug! Decorative and useful at 15oz. The winner could bring it to other pinball events and drink out of it. It’s what I would do. What? 😁

Only 6 spots are open in the main event before we go to a waitlist. You can see event details and register yourself right here:

https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/244711

Play More Pinball!

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Silver Spring, MD

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